A blog about all of the things I love - Jesus, my Family and Triathlon.

Sunday, November 21, 2010

Turkey Dance

Visions of Turkey Legs danced in my head last night. Seriously - until about 11:30! I will be deviating from my normal recipe and going with something deliciously unique. I was trying to think of some ways to make it easier to get the bird in the oven by 7:30... Maybe I will slice the garlic and roll up the rosemary/bacon rolls the night before. You can see the full recipe here. I have a chicken that I will cook today using some of the techniques. I've never stuffed the stuffing up under the skin to cover the breasts before. Great idea!

I have the pleasure of having my whole family here at my house on Thanksgiving Day! I will also be making some dishes via hand written recipe cards from the very best cook I know. I had spoken to my Mother In Law last week and she mailed me her Sweet Potato Casserole and Creamed Onions recipes. So many things that she makes...I aspire to be a cook like her. And her pies...oh my!

I am so thankful for my life. It gets a little overwhelming sometimes (as does everyones!) but it is way more than I deserve. The fact that we are healthy, that the children are home with me, that I have been blessed with strength, that DH has a job with great insurance, that we are warm and safe in sleep. All of those things seem simple - and they are! Simply wonderful! We fall under the category of "Living on Love" most of the time - but we have that.

I used to get caught up in making a Material Life for our children that was better than we had. Both DH and I grew up in families that barely made ends meet. Our families had big gardens to feed us and his even had livestock. No birthday parties at Chuck-E-Cheese, no trips to the mall for school clothes, no cars for our 16th birthday, no college funds. Of course, as a kid, I felt slighted. And in my 20's I was darn sure not going to "give my kids a life like that!"

Well, here we are, situationally similar to our parents. Though, we don't have much more than they did - I think we are in a better spot. DH and I don't care about money and stuff. I remember my folks having a lot of struggles over their finances. Not sure why - but all I know is that we don't fight over money, ever. I pay the bills, there's never anything left - and we work on getting out of debt. As we pay off our debts, things get easier, we get to go out to eat once in a while and everyones happy.

I know people that run around trying to make tons of money. *Shudder* It looks like hell on earth. So I will keep my simple life and be thankful for it!